Paper-cabinet.



'No. 810,293. PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

J. W. MEAKER.

PAPER CABINET. I

APPLICATION FILED APR.26,1904.

111/756 M to?" Witnesses:-

w7 1 A Jbhm IfJZeaker UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. MEAKER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOMEAKER SALES COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

PAPER-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. MEAKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Cabinets; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to a case or cabinet designed for holdingwriting-paper in form for the convenient use of type-writer operatorsand to facilitate the assemblage of the original sheets,carbon-transfer, or copyingpaper and sheets on which the carbon copiesare to be made in such manner that they may be quickly and readilybrought together in readiness for insertion into the type-Writingmachine.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointedout in the ap pended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is aperspective view of a case or cabinet embodying my invention. Fig. 2 isa sectional view' taken upon line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan viewof one of the removable shelves of said cabinet. Fig. 4 is a detailsectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail sectionof the lower part of the cabinet, taken upon line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

As shown in said drawings, A indicates a case or cabinet which consistsof connected bottom, top, side, and rear walls and which is open at oneend, the open end constituting the front of the cabinet. The top wall aof the cabinet is shorter or made of less depth from front to rear thanthe bottom wall a, while the front edges of the side walls a areinclined upwardly and rearwardly, giving an inclined form to the frontend of the cabinet. Provision is preferably made for closing the frontend of the cabinet, that herein shown consisting of a hinged flap ordoor B, which is hinged to the front edge of the bottom wall a and theside margins of which rest against or in contact with the inclined frontedges of the side walls a a, when the said flap or door is closed, asseen in Fig. 2.

Within the cabinet, at the bottom partition thereof, is located asliding paper-support C, which is adapted to be drawn outwardly from theinterior of the cabinet, so as to project from the front of the samewhen in its operative position, as shown in Fig. 1. Above said slidingsupport C are located a series of superposed shelves marked D E F G III, adapted to receive or support sheets of writ ing and carbon paper andthefront margins of which are arranged in stepped relation or with thefront margins of the several shelves arranged on a rearwardly-inclinedline. Six of these shelves are shown in the drawings, of which theuppermost three constitute one set of shelves and the lowermost three asecond set. Of the upper group of three shelves D E F the intermediateshelf E is for support ing carbon paper, the top shelf 1) the sheetswhich are to form the originals, and the shelf F sheets which are toform carbon copies. Likewise of the lower group G H I the intermediateshelf II is to support carbon-paper, the top shelf G paper from whichthe originals are to be made, and the lower shelf I sheets from whichcarbon copies are to be made. The upper group of shelves D E F by reasonof the inclined form of the case are shorter than the lower shelves G HI, and said upper set is designed to receive shorter sheets of paper,such as are used for short notes or letters, while the lower sets G H Iare designed for longer sheets, such as regular letter-paper, or, if thecase be sufliciently- The intermediate or deep, legal-cap paper.carbon-paper shelves E and H of each set are, moreover, arranged toslide freely in the case,

so that they may be drawn outwardly, and' are preferably provided withhandles e h at their forward edges, by which they may be readilygrasped. Said shelves E and H for carbon-paper are made to slideoutwardly from the front of the case, so that the sheets of carbon-papermay be easily arranged thereon, it being obvious that inasmuch as saidpaper is usually thin and flexible, especially after the sheets havebeen once used, they could not well be arranged on the shelf by pushingthem endwise into the front of the case, so that it is highly desirablethat the shelf to receive them should be capable of being drawnoutwardly, thereby enabling a number of sheets of carbon-paper to bepiled or arranged-smoothly on said shelf.

forme The shelves D, F, G, and I for ordinary writing-paper may beeither permanently or movably mounted in the case. Said shelves are notdesigned to be ordinarily drawn outwardly to place the paper thereon,inasmuch as a desired number of sheets of paper may be placed on eachshelf by thrusting the pile of sheets into the case from the frontthereof.

The side walls a a are shown as provided with horizontal grooves (1, aon their inner faces adapted to receive the side edges of the shelves DE F G H I, which shelves are shown as made of sheet metal. It will beunderstood, however, that the case and shelves may be made of anysuitable material, either wood or metal, and the shelves, if arranged toslide, may have sliding support in any desired or preferred manner onsaid side walls.

The front edges of the shelves are arranged in stepped or inclinedrelation, as shown, in order to enable the top sheets of the piles ofsheets resting on the several shelves to be easily removed from theseveral shelves, it being obvious that as the front edge of each shelfstands rearwardly from the front edge of the shelf below it the frontedge of the top sheet is exposed and may be readily grasped by thefingers.

In order to provide for exposing the front edge of the top sheet of thepile resting on the top shelf D, which is beneath the top wall a of thecase, the front margin of said top wall terminates some distanceinwardly from the front edge of the said upper shelf D, and in order toenable the space between the front edge of the top wall aand the top ofthe hinged cover B to be closed to prevent access of dust the said topwall is provided with a hinged flap J, which may be turned back upon thetop wall when the cabinet is in use, as seen in Fig. 1, but closed, asshown in Fig. 2, when the cabinet is not in use.

In order that the front edges of the piles of sheets on the severalshelves D E FGH Imay be easily arranged in the same relation to thefront edges of the shelves, said several shelves are provided at theirinner ends with elevated strips or ledges d e f g h i, which strips orledges form stops for the rear edges of the sheets, against which saidrear edges may be placed in inserting the piles of sheets in thecabinet. Said stops or ledges may be either made adjustable or fixed. Asshown in the accompanying drawings, the ledges d e f on the threeuppermost shelves, designed for shorter sheets, are made adjustable withrespect to the inner ends of the shelves, which latter are made of suchlength as to extend to the rear wall of the cabinet when the shelves areplaced therein. In the case of the lower or lon er shelves G H I saidledges h h z' are by flanges on the rear edges of the shelves, suitablestops in this case being provided to limit the inward movement of theshelves, and thus insurethat the shelves will always be placed in properposition in the cabinet with their front edges in stepped relation.

Any suitable form of adjusting means may be employed for attaching theadjustable stops d c f to the shelves D E Fas, for instance, the deviceshown in Figs. 3 and 4 in connection with the upper shelf E may beemployed. In this case the ledge 6 consists of a strip of wood securedto the shelf by means of screws 6 e, which pass throu h slots 0 6 formedin the said shelf in paral el relation with the side margins thereof.

The adjustable ledges d, e, and f will be so located on the shelves thatwhen a pile of sheets of the particular length used. by the operator isarranged on the shelves with their rear margins in contact with saidstops their front margins will be adjacent to the front margins of theshelves. When all of the sheets of paper of that particular size areused, the ledges need no adjustment; but in case the size of the sheetsbe changed then the ledges may be correspondingly adjusted.

The sliding paper-support C is provided with a front ledge c, a rearledge c, and marginal or side ledges c at either side thereof, saidledges forming stops or guide surfaces for the edges of the sheets. Inthe construction illustrate wherein said paper-support is made of sheetmetal it rests and slides upon the bottom wall a of the case and isprovided with a central stiffening-strip 0 Fig. 5, which is securedlongitudinally to the bottom of the support and slides in a guide-recessformed in the said bottom wall a for its reception. The rear ledge 0will be arranged at such distance from the front ledge c that the longersheets used may be placed between said ledges, the purpose of said frontand rear ledges and the side guide-ledges c 6 being to enable the sheetsto be readily and quickly arranged on the said support in propersuperposed relation and with their side or end edges parallel. is not,however, strictly necessary to em loy both of the ledges c 0, because ifone o the same is used in connection with the side guide ledges c c thesheets of paper may be readily and quickly arranged on the top of thesuport with their margins in coincident relation. It will of course beunderstood that when the support 0 is drawn outwardly from the case ifthe cover B, hinged to the bottom wall, be employed, as shown, saidsupport when drawn out will rest upon and be supported by said cover B.

In addition to the rear guide-strip c, the front guide-strip c, oreither of said guidestrips when only one is used I employ an adjustablestop 0, adapted to control the position of the rear edges of shortersheets. In the particular construction shown said stop consists of ashort strip, which is secured to the support 0 by means of a screw 0passing through a longitudinal slot c,.formed in the body of the supportand in the strip 0 Said adjustable stop 0 will be located a distancefrom the front ledge c on the front margin of the support equal to thelength of the shorter sheets of paper, which are placed upon the upperor shorter shelves D, E, and F. In the use of the device described thecabinet is filled by placing on the several shelves sheets ofletter-paper and. carbon-paper, the carbon-paper being placed on theintermediate shelves E and H of each group of three shelves, ashereinbefore described. As these shelves may be drawn outwardly from thecase, the carbon paper may be easily arranged thereon when the same areextended and the same then returned or put back into their places in thecase. When the case is in use, the sliding support C will be drawnoutwardly to the position shown in Fig. 1. To arrange a set of sheetsand interposed carbon-paper on the shelf, a sheet may first be drawnfrom the lowermost shelf, as F or I of one of the sets of shelves, andplaced in proper position upon the said support, a sheet of carbon-paperthen drawn from one of the shelves E or H, and a second sheet ofwriting-paper then drawn from one of the shelves D or G. As the sheetsare drawn outwardly from the shelves they are dropped upon the supportC, and their rear edges may be quickly adjusted by bringing the sameagainst a side and rear ledge c and c or against a side ledge c and thefront ledge c or in case of shorter sheets by placing their rear edgesagainst the adjustable stop 0.

The inclined or stepped arrangement of the front edge of the shelvesdescribed enables the sheets to be quickly drawn out together, ifdesired, it being obvious that the lowermost sheet of a group of threesheets may be first pulled out a short distance, the intermediate orcarbon sheet then pulled out until its front edge is in line with thelower sheet, the top sheet then pulled out with its front edge in linewith the two lower sheets, and the three sheets then grasped and pulledout together, when they will be allowed to drop upon the support C andfurther arranged to bring their side edges parallel, if this be foundnecessary.

Where the shelves, as those marked D F, which need not necessarily bearranged to slide in and out of the cabinet for the purpose of placingthe paper thereon, are provided with adjustable ledges or guides for theinner margins of the sheets, said shelves will be made to slide out ofthe case to afford access to the said guides for the purpose ofadjusting the same.

In the construction of a case or cabinet embodying my invention severalparts may be made of wood, metal, or other material,

and the details of construction may be modi-- fied in various waysWithout departure from my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. A paper-cabinet provided with a plurality ofsuperposed paper receiving shelves, with a sliding paper-supportprovided with a lateral and end ledges and with an adjustablepaper-stop.

2. A paper-cabinet provided with a plurality of shelves the front edgesof which are arranged in stepped or overlapped relation, the cabinethaving a top wall which terminates at the rear of the front edge of theupper shelf and is provided with a hinged flap.

3. A paper-cabinet comprising bottom, top, side and end walls and havingan inclined front, a series of shelves in said cabinet having theirfront edges in stepped relation, a cover hinged to the front edge ofsaid bottom wall and adapted to form a forward continuation thereof whenin its horizontal position, and a horizontal paper-support located.

below the lowermost shelf above the bottom wall and adapted to slideinto and out of the cabinet and to rest upon the said cover when thelatter is in its horizontal position and the said paper-support is inits extended position.

4. A paper-cabinet provided with a series of superposed paper-receivingshelves, the front edges of which are arranged in stepped relation, andhaving a cover hinged to the front edge of its bottom wall and ahorizontal paper-support located beneath said shelves and adapted toslide into and out of the cabi-, net and to rest upon the cover when thelatter is in its horizontal position and said papersupport is extended,said paper-support being provided with end and side ledges.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aflix mysignature, in presence of two witnesses, this 21st day of April, A. D.1904.

JOHN W. MEAKERQ Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. HALL, GERTRUDE BRYoE.

